Close to midnight on June 25, 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the Emergency proclamation that marked the suspension of parliamentary democracy in India. Two hours later, the government disconnected power supply to newspaper offices in Delhi. Then, the arrests began. The main voices of the Opposition, among them freedom fighter and Gandhian, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), who had addressed a mammoth rally against the Indira Gandhi government hours earlier in the national capital, was detained. So were scores of prominent Opposition leaders, including former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai, Congress dissenters such as Chandra Shekhar and Mohan Dharia, Socialist Party chairman George Fernandes, Jan Sangh leaders such as Nanaji Deshmukh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, CPI-M leaders including AK Gopalan and Jyotirmoy Basu. Thus, began the long night that lasted 21 months, during which fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution, including the right to free speech and expression, the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, the right to unionise, and the right to move courts to enforce civil rights, were suspended. Over the next few months, newspapers and magazines would be heavily censored and dissenters — politicians, public intellectuals, bureaucrats, journalists — would be arrested. A cult was built around the prime minister and a massive propaganda launched by the government to claim that the country was never in better economic health. The government demanded a committed judiciary and bureaucracy and the foreign hand was invoked to discredit criticism. Dissenters were branded as anti-nationals. Satire and humour were banned as courtiers sang in praise of the prime minister. The Emergency was a bloodless coup by the incumbent government, which subverted the Constitution and the institutions that protected the rights of citizens. Fear reigned until Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, unexpectedly, called for elections on January 18, 1977. By March 20, Gandhi and most of her cabinet colleagues had been defeated. The Internal Emergency was formally lifted on March 21. READ MORE ‘India shouldn’t worry about what America thinks of your films’: Michael Winterbottom The 9th edition of Qumra, which took place physically after three years lost to the pandemic, was back to being the platform-with-purpose it was intended to be: bringing together professionals from around the world for a six-day curated event which includes masterclasses, film screenings, industry meetings, and overseeing talent incubation and mentorship programmes. READ MORE ‘The idea of the diaspora itself has changed’: Chitra Ganesh, artist New York-based Chitra Ganesh's solo ‘Orchid Meditations’ at New Delhi’s Gallery Espace draws on some of her familiar themes, including Buddhist and Hindu iconography, myth and science fiction, comics and surrealism. In this interview, Ganesh, 48, talks about her influences, being part of the diaspora and why the written word is crucial to her art. READ MORE It’s all in the motive My mother is a woman of deep intelligence and sage wisdom. Wise words flow from her like water out of deep springs. Her seminal teachings come with heartfelt delivery and daring care that only maternal instincts can pack. “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” This saying from Mom by the English poet William Blake from his “Auguries of Innocence” had me in awe of her last Monday at lunch when friends came visiting. I left myself a voice note to remember to ponder these words by Blake, a man who never got the credit he deserved in his lifetime but posthumously was revered as a man of great intellect. READ MORE The audacity of being queer “Can I have a quick word with you before you meet my son?” I heard the worried voice of a father in our waiting room. As I led him to my room, he said, “Our son, Zainab, told us recently he is gay but we know he is not. Can you please talk to him?” I have seen this appeal in so many parents’ eyes and have learned over the years to say with a smile, “Why don’t we all sit together and talk about it?” So that’s what we did and as the adults arranged themselves around the room, Zainab plonked on the chair with, “This is such a waste of time! Why do you have to put me through this?” Finding just the gap I was looking for, I said, “I am sure I would feel the same in your shoes. However, now that we are here and sitting and talking – what are you hoping that we might talk about today and what it might lead to? So that you might later think that it was not such a waste of time?” READ MORE Why listening to birdsong is like listening to some great philharmonic orchestra While most bird calls and songs leave you happy or nostalgic or even ridiculously sentimental, some can be downright scary if not malevolent. Decades ago, on one of our very first excursions to the Delhi Ridge, late one evening, we lost our way. The pathway meandered through shadowy keekars, their thorny branches extended. To one side, partially hidden by reeds, a scummy green pond festered. We had been warned about walking here at dusk: the jheel had a reputation for being haunted. And then, out of the gloom, came this echoing call: “whoop-whoop-whoop!” We quickened our pace: the only saving grace was that the dog seemed least concerned as she nosed around inquisitively. Later I found out that the whooper in the reeds was the coucal or crow-pheasant, a hulking russet and black member of the cuckoo family, who did not drop its eggs in other birds’ nests like cuckoos did, but who did, indeed, actively seek out these nests (and terrorised nestlings, no doubt) in search of baby birds and eggs. READ MORE Celebrating Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa's archives for the first time in India Everything about Geoffrey Bawa’s architecture is as if it has always been there – be it turning an abandoned rubber estate into an ever-evolving garden or a hotel in a virgin forest, where ancient rocks fit snugly into corridors and sneaky creepers wind around columns and make a building disappear. As the Sri Lankan architect’s work unfolds at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi, it is a captivating expression of how he viewed modernity, urban spaces and quality of life. READ MORE
